


Indistinguishable From Magic

by ruff_ethereal



Series: San Fransokyo Midnight Society [2]
Category: Big Hero 6
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Gen, Major Original Character(s), Violence, Werewolf!GoGo, Witch!Honey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-24
Updated: 2015-01-06
Packaged: 2018-03-03 08:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2844719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ruff_ethereal/pseuds/ruff_ethereal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."<br/>- Arthur C. Clarke</p><p>In the wake of the Heralds unveiling their supersuited soldiers, the "Riders," the Midnight Society is plunged into a brutal, desperate technomagical arms race, trying to outdo the other while maintaining the secrecy and safety of their Citizens. </p><p>The Big Hero 6 struggle to combat the new zealous, well-armed, and very dangerous foes, along with two new members joining in the battle.</p><p>Meanwhile, the two spearheads of the Society and the Heralds Technomagical War--Hiro Hamada and a girl called Naught--meet at the Lucky Cat Cafe once a week and discuss life, technology, magic, morality, and each other.</p><p>--</p><p>On hiatus, pending rewrite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Visitor

“Hey there, little lady!” Cass Hamada said to the girl in front of her, “What can I get you?”

She was a little waif of fifteen that looked much younger and smaller than her age actually was. Her hair was messy and cut short at neck level, and she wore a blue shirt that said “Byte Monster” with an image of a demonic computer devouring screaming, running boxes. The new customer at the Lucky Cat Café put a phone on the counter and a holographic screen popped up, and started typing on a holo-keyboard.

>Is this where Hiro Hamada lives?

“That he does!” The owner beams, “You here to meet him? He’s out on an errand right now, though.”

>Yes. I can wait, too. In the meantime, I would like to order: (see hand)

The girl starts pointing to a rather large amount of pastries in the display, all with a happy smile on her face, and a twinkle in her eyes.

“Pretty handy device to have, huh?” The woman says as she grabs the pastries.

>Yes. Not a physical disability, though: I just don’t like talking to people in general.

Cass nodded. “I understand, sweetheart.” She tallies up the purchase and the transaction is made. The girl takes back her phone, picks up her tray full of sweet treats, and settles for a table near the door. She picks up a honey glazed doughnut with her bare fingers, and merrily, steadily chows down on it.

Eventually, Hiro comes back in through the door of the Lucky Cat Café with a box in his arms. “I’m back, Aunt Cass!”

The owner waves and motions for his nephew to put the delivery on the counter. “Welcome back, Hiro! Just put it down here, and go see your visitor.”

“Visitor?” The roboticist asks, an eyebrow raised, before his aunt points to the girl still making her way through her tray full of pastries. She waves at him with a mouth full of bear claw, her hands sticky with honey, sugar, and sprinkles. “Oh.”

Hiro eventually makes his way to her table, standing beside the seat. He smiles at her, and she offers an even bigger grin back, her eyes sparkling. She wipes her hands on a napkin, pulls out her phone again, and starts typing.

>Mr. Hamada I’m a huge, huge, HUGE fan, and I’ve just been dying to meet you in person.

The roboticist beams. “Neat! I have fans! And please, call me Hiro.”

>Your Microbots are a –fantastic- invention, Hiro.

“And this phone is pretty cool, too!” Hiro says as he seats himself opposite the fan, “Where’d you get it?”

>I invented it. The base is what you’d get from the stores but then I broke it open and added my own upgrades.

“Heh. Another teen genius, just like me, huh?”

She nodded.

“SFIT?”

She shook her head.

>Different school. Listen, I know you’re a busy guy, so can I please shake your hand? It will mean so much to me.

“Shake away!” Hiro offered his, and fan girl took it gingerly, carefully wrapping her fingers in a light squeeze before slowly shaking it. She pulled her hand back, beaming and grinning.

The roboticist kept the hand in the air, smiled, and in a whisper said, “Magitech spy device, huh? _Almost_ undetectable. Planted it on me personally, too. I’m starting to like you.”

The grin turned into a deep scowl, her eyes smouldering.

Hiro smirked, rested his elbows on the table, and leaned forward. “What’s your name?”

She readjusted the screen and started typing.

>They call me Naught.

“As in ‘Naught very good at this’?”

The Herald technomancer scowled even deeper, pulled up a different interface, and started coding. A dialog box popped up soon after.

**Naught says:**

You’re a goober.

| Yes |                  | Yeah, I guess I am, actually |

Hiro laughed, and pressed “Yes.” “’Goober’?!” He said in between breaths, “Is ‘jerk’ too strong for you?”

>“Jerk” is reserved for especially annoying goobers much like yourself, jerk.

“Standards, huh?”

>I HATE PEOPLE THAT CURSE. Casually, seriously, or excessively.

Hiro nodded. “Seriously speaking though, this is pretty good work. Wouldn’t have caught it if I haven’t been studying these sorts of devices. All the others are pretty jealous, paranoid, and competitive.”

>As am I, Hiro. Sans paranoid.

“Gonna be a real close race when I start upgrading all of our stuff!”

>I’d love you see you try to get where I and the Heralds am.

“Don’t you mean ‘I’d love to see how fast you do it.’?”

>I’m going to make sure you never do.

“I’m going to make sure to see what _you_ do.”

>Stop joking. This is serious.

“Just because it’s serious doesn’t mean I can’t have fun!” Hiro laughed again, “And really, your tech is amazing; I’m actually studying it for my own because you’re _leagues_ above all the others.”

Naught grinned and blushed.

“Of course, I’m going to do better.”

Naught scowled, her cheeks still red. Her fingers waited on top of her keypad, shaking violently.

Hiro smirked. “You going to come up with a witty counter, or are you just going to sit there and look cute?”

Naught sucked in a huge, seething breath.

>I am done with this conversation, goodbye.

The Herald grabbed her phone, and picked up her tray. She calmly walked over to the counter, had the rest of her food boxed and bagged, and walked out the door, head down so no one could see that she was still blushing.

“So, who was that?” Cass said as she walked over and laid a hand on her nephew’s shoulder.

“Just a rival from another school, Aunt Cass.” Hiro said, smiling as he watched her wait at the corner for a tram, pointedly keeping her back to the café.

“You like her?”

“You bet! Gonna be an interesting invent-off, that’s for sure.”

Cass nodded. Then, she slowly, deliberately turned Hiro’s face to hers, and stared directly into his eyes.

“You and I are going to have a very long, serious Talk later tonight.”


	2. Heroes vs Heralds

“I didn’t sign up to fight the forces of evil!” Wasabi cried as he ducked for cover. The concrete post was riddled with bullets. Society Security riddled the shooters with more bullets.

“They’re not the Forces of Evil, ‘Sabi!” Fred replied as he wrestled with an Ogre, a Rider in a demonic version of his suit, “They’re the Heralds! Though yeah, they _are_ pretty evil.”

“Just keep fighting them!” GoGo yelled as she dashed all around the docks, shields up to block the hail of bullets and spells raining down from above, trying to catch her mirror image, the Screamer dodging and defending against Security’s return fire.

_“Hero 6, this is Delta! The Heralds are moving again, the Heralds are moving again! Honey and Beta moving to intercept, but they have a Slinger and a Tooth, over!”_

_“We can’t move in! I need one of you guys over here!”_

Messengers worked quickly to secure another Krei Tech shipping container and move it to a waiting summoning circle. The werewolf with the plasma claws patrolled around their fellow Heralds, snarling and daring Security to come closer. A warlock with a power purse full of potions and hexes stood atop the van, fingers right over the keypad.

“Me and Baymax are moving in to help!” The robot flew to their teammates and the stolen container, “We’ll be there in--”

Blue runes formed in the front of Hiro’s vision, lines and shapes quickly forming into words.

>Heads up.

A dark blue version of Baymax smashed into the duo, knocking them of course as the Herald robot grappled their opponent. Thrusters burned and fired, the two combatants fighting for control in mid-air.

“Hey, Naught!” Hiro said casually, “How you doing today?”

>Just fine. This theft is going rather well, I’d say.

“Yep! Too bad we’ve still got two containers to—“

_“Hero 6, this is Delta, we have lost another container!”_

The technomancer could feel the Herald smirk under her opaque visor.

>You were saying?

Hiro cast a glance at the one remaining Krei Tech shipment. The other Heralds and Security had already broken formation, forming a line from the target to the summoning circle, or engaging in a bloody, lethal version of tackling the others to the ground or pulling them back with their guns, claws, swords, axes, knives, potions, hexes, spells, flames, and harsh language.

“Race you.”

>You’re on.

The two robots separated as they jetted straight for the container, flying just above the chaos down below.

“Baymax is gonna get to it first!

>Bun-Bun begs to differ!

Hiro sprayed spit all over the inside visor. “You named your robot Bun-Bun?!”

>That’s MR. Bun-Bun to you, jerk!

The Security and the Herald landed on opposite sides of the shipment, Baymax grabbing on and pulling it back first.

>Let go!

Bun-Bun lunged for it, and pulled it back over to the Heralds.

“You let go!”

Baymax heaved it back to Security.

>Let GO!

 _“You_ let go!”

>LET GO!

Security and Heralds rushed to the supersized tug of war. The gunfire, violence, magic, and cursing started anew. Werewolves bit and clawed, witches and warlocks threw potions, and magicians cast spells and fired their guns, everyone was shouting insults over someone’s lineage, skills, or fashion sense. The rest of the Big Hero 6 and the Riders broke away from their opponents, rushing over to their leaders.

“LET _GO!”_

Baymax pulled the container back once more with an especially powerful tug.

Naught growled, and peered over the top of the steel, the opaque visor of her helmet clearing up to show her deep scowl and her narrowed eyes.

>With pleasure.

Bun-Bun’s rocket fists activated. Thrusters kicked into gear soon after, huge gouts of blue flames sending Baymax and the shipment on a crash course with a warehouse wall, Hiro at the forefront.

“Oh no.”

* * *

_“Hiro, Hiro, this is Delta squad! Are you alive, over?!”_

_“Hiro!”_

_“Hiro! Come on, man, say something!”_

_“Hiro, please, say you’re alive under there!”_

_“Hiro, you can’t die! Even if this would be an awesome death!”_

_“FRED!”_

_“Sorry.”_

_“Hiro is alive. He has sustained a severe concussion from the collapse of the building, along with many bruises, but no abrasions nor open wounds nor internal organ damage. His vitals are not critical, but he needs medical attention immediately. It is imperative that we are extracted from this rubble as soon as possible.”_

* * *

“Heh.” Hiro said from his hospital bed, “Wonder if they’re going to reserve rooms for us here at St. Vincent’s, just in case.” The others didn’t laugh. “Sorry.”

“We really do have rooms reserved, though.” Fred quipped.

“You feeling alright, Hiro?” Honey Lemon asked as she sat right beside him, a hand reaching out to gently push a few bangs away to reveal the enchanted bandages underneath.

“I’m feeling fine!” The technomancer replied, “Either those healing potions are really effective or St. Vincent’s has some extremely good painkillers. At any rate, we _really_ need to discuss the Rider situation.”

“Yeah,” GoGo said as she leaned on the wall closest to Honey, “And here I thought they’d be less of a pain once we had the upgraded suits and Security on our side.”

“The Messengers that survived their little hazing process are a smarter bunch, too;” Wasabi added, “Less suicidal, with half-brains, and smart enough to follow orders.”

“The Heralds are waging full scale war at this point,” Fred continued, “If this wasn’t real life, it’d totally be a game of XCOM, on a San Fransokyo sized scale.”

“What’s XCOM?” Hiro asked.

“Oh, it’s a strategy game. Basically, aliens invade earth and us humans have to fight off a technologically advanced enemy, with numbers on their side, and no problem about using them as pawns.”

“More like meat shields.” GoGo said.

Wasabi shuddered. _“Ugh!_ Did you see the guy that got turned inside out? And was still _alive?!_ I didn’t know the Heralds had potions that did that.”

“… Actually, that was mine.”

All at once, everyone turned their heads to Honey. The witch smiled sheepishly. “Hey, I managed to turn them right-side in afterward, right? So, back to this XCOM game: how do you win?”

Fred smiled. “Simple: we pick up the pieces from every battle, study their tech, and then make our own versions.”


	3. New Enemies, New Allies

“I’m really sorry we couldn’t save your shipment, Krei.”

“What’s done is done, Hiro;” Alistair Krei replied, “All that we can do is make sure it never happens again. How are you feeling, by the way? I know St. Vincent’s gave you the clean bill of health, but I’ve had my fair share of ‘miraculous recoveries.’” He chuckled.

Hiro smiled. “I’m perfectly fine, Krei. St. Vincent’s isn’t called the best for nothing.”

“That’s great to hear! I was afraid I might have to conduct a tour of your own facility without you.”

The technomancer chuckled. “Yeah, wouldn’t look too good. So, all of this is really mine?” He peered over the edge of the railing.

Krei joined him, a smile on his face. “Legally speaking, it’s property of Krei Tech, but you, Hiro, are free to use it however you please.”

Down below, the Hamada Technomagical Research Facility was abuzz with activity, Society Security, members of the Magician’s Guild, fledgling Technomancers, and assorted staff all walking, driving, and gliding about with materials, notices, and prototypes. The air was filled with magic, chatter, and excitement, though some gloomy clouds rested over quite a few of the older mages tutoring initiates as they worked at their terminals and workstations.

The paging system crackled to life. _“Mr. Hamada and Mr. Krei, the Council representatives shall be arriving in fifteen minutes.”_

The tycoon chuckled. “No asking if I want to stall or reschedule; ah, that’s how you know you’ve got important clients to impress!”

Hiro smiled. “I’m sure it’ll go just fine. After all, I’ve already saved your ass once.”

Krei laughed. “That you did. Fist bump for good luck?”

“With pleasure.”

* * *

“As you can see, Council Representatives and Mr. Hamada, we here at Krei Tech, MagiTech division, are very serious about combatting the Herald threat and their new Riders,” Krei said as they walked over the scaffoldings above the bustling work floor, “Though most of these new technomancers and staff are strictly temporary—along with being generously compensated, they will have their memories erased, as per their contract and the NDA—but those that exceed in their fields, like Mr. Hamada,” The tycoon turned to the technomancer and smiled, “Will be allowed to stay and develop to their hearts’ content.”

“Hah!” Hiro cried as the group stopped over a balcony overlooking the hive of activity, “Bet the Heralds’ technos will come running here once they catch wind of this place!”

“That they would if they could, Hiro!” Krei admitted, throwing the technomancer a finger gun, “But I’m afraid we have strong evidence that the Heralds are extremely strict about preventing and punishing defection, and keeping their trade secrets secret. We are not here to discuss the state of the war as is, however; we are here to show the glorious future!”

The group started moving again, moving towards platforms built into the side of the building, a huge row of single doors with plaques on the wood waiting for them. Most of the metal was still bare, awaiting a name.

“Mr. Hamada and his teammates here have already brought their supersuits up to speed with the Heralds, using only equipment and supplies from the Hunter’s Lodge, and developed in his own garage, no less!” Krei beamed.

“Heh,” The zombie councilwoman said, “Heard the Beastie Bouncers weren’t too happy to have him over to borrow their stuff.”

“Fledglings striding in, claiming themselves to be the ushers of a glorious new age to millennia old establishments and persons never proceeds well, it seems.” The vampire councilman growled, _“Especially_ if they are barely of _mortal_ legal age, much more at least a century old.”

The tycoon ignored the conversation, and personally pulled open one of the doors. “What wonders and fantastic technomagic can he invent in his own personal laboratory?!” He stepped into the frame and disappeared into a trandimensional space pocket.

The rest followed suit, and emerged in a gigantic warehouse much like the main floor. The workshop was brimming with technomagical equipment, from terminals, fabrication machines, industrial-grade tools, scanners, mana reserve tanks, summoning circles, and more, alongside being filled with hundreds of pounds of raw material, boxes of prototypes, and arcane items, tools, and weapons awaiting study, development, and integration.

Hiro’s eyes flew wide open. “No _way!_ All of this is mine?!”

“And more, if you so desire it!” Krei grinned at the ecstatic technomancer, before turning back to the assembled councilpersons, “And this, dear representatives of the Council, is where our tour ends! We do hope that we have impressed you, and strengthened your confidence in our future, inevitable victory against the Heralds!”

“Seeing all this makes me want to go into my sarcophagus and sleep the century away…” The vampire councilman mused, “But then, I’m sure a technomancer will be there to wake me up, just to spite me.”

“Magic and machine meet and marry for a most merry merger!” The witch councilwoman sang, “Their descendants defend, defeat, and destroy, to deliver the Heralds to their doom.”

“I’m eager to see the playing field leveled;” The demon councilman rumbled, “Seeing a single Rider decimate groups of hunters and Security is starting to get _stale.”_

“Woo, can’t wait to see where these times take us now!” The zombie councilwoman cried as she rubbed her hands together eagerly, “Take down those Riders for me and my Charlie, will you?”

“I’m not planning on letting the Heralds have an advantage over us ever again, sirs and madams.” Hiro raised his chin up in pride.

Formalities and farewells were dispensed with, till only Krei and Hiro were left alone in the room.

“So, time for me to get to work?” The technomancer said as he made his way to the main control terminal in the center of the room.

“Actually, Hiro, there is one more concern for you to address as the lead of this new facility.” The tycoon said, “I’m very sorry I have kept it from you for so long, but I don’t believe in taking problems two at a time or dampening moods early.”

Hiro turned around and faced his new benefactor, his features tense, his mouth a hard line. “What’s wrong? Did the Heralds pull something on us?!”

Krei shook his head. “No, calm down, Hiro, it’s different: I have personally recruited a new Technomancer to our cause, but I need you to decide if they will stay, or we shall have their memories erased and send them away.”

The technomancer felt a growing dread gnaw at his stomach. “Who did you bring in?”

The tycoon gestured for the door. “Let’s go meet them, shall we?” They both exited back into the scaffoldings atop the work floor, and walked to another office door with a blank plaque.

“Hiro, before we step into this room, I want you to know: you have the right to veto my decisions at any time you please. You are the leader of the superheroes, and this initiative, I am not.” Krei laid his hand on the knob, “However, I ask you to please, consider things outside of your personal feelings when you make this decision.”

Hiro didn’t say anything, not until he stepped through that door, and saw Society Security surrounding Krei’s new technomancer.

“Hello, Hiro.”

Robert Callaghan was in chains, wrists and ankles bound by magic, an inhibitor collar secured around his neck to subdue or execute him if necessary.

Hiro’s lip curled into a scowl, his hands balled up into fists. He started to seethe, growling under his breath.

Krei stepped back. “I can give you two your privacy, if you so require. Security must stay, however.”

Hiro shook his head, his lip turning into a hard, straight line, his fingers uncurling. He took a deep breath, and said, “No. It’s fine.” He took steady, quiet strides forward until the Security told him he could come no closer.

“Hello, Callaghan. I want to ask you a simple question: why are you here?”

“I want to save my daughter from these lunatics.”

Hiro nodded, his expression still neutral. “Good enough. C’mon, let’s go to work and save the world.”


	4. New Weapons for a New War, 1 of 3

“Banish! Now!”

Kat and Honey descended on the screaming Tooth, casting binding hexes on their limbs. The werewolf’s enchanted plasma blades still glowed and seared the ground, the magical chains already fizzling and breaking apart as the runes on the Herald’s armour started to glow.

The two hunters held both of their gloves on their target’s chest. More runes on the enemy glowed, an ominous red energy seeping right into the hunter’s palms, crackling, surging, and resisting their magic. The witches pressed their hands in even harder, a spider web of red growing over their banishment gloves.

In a blinding explosion of light, the Rider disappeared from the alley.

Kat and Honey flew off and onto their backs, the spider webs of red bursting into flames, rapidly burning away their gloves into nothing. The witches hurriedly ripped them right off their hands, their skin red and seared.

They picked themselves up and ran to their partners and the other Rider.

The Ogre shouted and struggled, the mechanisms and motors underneath screaming as the cannon on their chest sputtered sparks of purple magic, but the massive, black and purple werewolf biting and tearing at them was just too powerful. Their armour’s runes broke and exploded as large sections of their suit were ripped away, exposing the body underneath.

“It’s a vamp!” Rita shouted from the side, her own claws and jaws readied, another dispel potion on hand.

“GoGo, roll over!” Honey Lemon screamed as she and Kat pulled different vials out of their bags.

The werewolves dove out of the line of fire. The Ogre tried to run but the sunfire potions were already flying right towards them. The witches shielded their eyes from the scorching explosions and the horrible screams as the vampire burned away into ashes.

“GoGo, ride!”

The titanic werewolf scrambled up to her feet, grabbed her fellow lycanthrope, and threw them onto her back. Rita latched on for dear life. Kat and Honey picked up GoGo’s discarded hunter’s coat, and were scooped up soon after. They made a break out of the alley as the now empty suit started to glow and whine.

A few seconds later, the armour exploded in a massive fireball, shrapnel flying everywhere.

“These guys aren’t much without their suits, are they?” Kat said as GoGo tore through the streets of San Fransokyo.

“Neither were me and GoGo, before all this!” Honey Lemon replied.

The Hunters stopped and dismounted by a car parked at a quiet street corner. The driver threw the doors open, and Rita dove in the backseat, Kat took shotgun. Honey Lemon kissed GoGo on the nose and the giant rapidly shrunk into a smaller, less menacing version of herself. Still dazed and confused, the black-and-purple werewolf was pulled right in, and the door shut as soon as her fluffy tail was safely inside.

The car went screaming off into the night and away from the battle, down quiet roads and deserted alleys.

“God, I hate those guys.” Rita said as she dug into her pack for healing salves and potions, “It was fun back when it was just the Messengers—easy banishing, easy money.”

“Unfortunately, those days are over.” Kat said as she dug for her own medicine and applied a thick green goop to the red and cursed skin of her hand.

GoGo groaned in pain. “Would love to have a night where I didn’t need to go Feral.” Honey Lemon handed her a bottle of liquid wolfsbane, and she chugged the whole thing down, her aches rapidly melting away.

“This wasn’t exactly how I imagined our Double Date Patrols to go…” Rita moaned as she treated her own wounds, “The reality’s a lot more us getting hurt and us getting our asses kicked, than the other way around.”

“It’s gonna be over soon once Hiro unveils that little breakthrough of his, though.” Honey Lemon said as GoGo leaned over and nuzzled her chest. The witch responded by scratching her behind the ears.

“How long is it gonna take for him to give us those new toys, by the way?” Rita asked, “Because these Heralds _really_ like playing _very_ rough.”

“I’d assume it’s still going through Council approval,” Kat mused, “You know how the magicians and vampires are about anything new.”

“You guys know what it is, by the way?” Rita continued.

Both Honey and GoGo shook their heads. “Really top secret stuff, Hiro said.” The witch replied.

* * *

 “Well, fledgling,” The vampire councilman replied, “Here we are! Let’s go see your ‘new weapons’ for this ‘new war.”

The other councilmembers nodded and murmured their agreement.

Hiro nodded, and stood in front of the table containing the new technomagic, each of the six items covered in a sheet. Behind that were a variety of obstacle courses, objects, and hazards, ranging from tracks, targets of many shapes and sizes, walls, laser grids, mazes, and even machine guns, flamethrowers, and magic launchers.

“This is Megabot.” Hiro began, removing the first sheet, “He was just a regular old battle bot, before I added some new upgrades to him: Exorcism Magic Pulse emitters, Technomagic Disabling and Deconstruction protocols—or as the rest of the team like to call, “To Da Death” protocols—and a whole new armour coating to protect him against supernatural attacks, bullets, and getting stepped on. Watch.”

Megabot sectioned off into his three pieces, rolled off the table, and to a Midnight Bazaar Welcome Construct. The human-sized-and-shaped automaton waved cheerfully, its body glowing and humming with magic. The battle bot reformed right in front of him, his smiley face still on his “head.”

The vampire councilman slowly placed his palm over his face. The witch and the demon councilpersons nodded, the zombie councilwoman cooed, “Aww, he’s cute!”

“Megabot? Destroy.”

The smiley face turned into his red devilish grin. The battlebot glowed for a few seconds before a massive pulse of white energy shot out from it and onto the Welcome Construct. The machine jerked and sparked, its magic lines fading and pulsing ominously, its joints and gears whining and groaning.

Megabot separated once more and rapidly climbed up the automaton, wrapping its body all around its mechanisms like a noose, merrily turning into a pile of smoking, sparking parts and scrap. It quickly rolled back to the table, climbed up a leg, reformed, and “bowed” to the Council representatives, its smiley face back on.

The vampire councilman looked between the slats of his fingers, and frowned at what he saw. The witch and the demon councilpersons clapped, the zombie councilwoman cheered. “Woo! Go Megabot! I love this already.”

Megabot happily wiggled in place.

“So this is it, fledgling?” The vampire councilman asked, “You plan to fight the Heralds with a children’s toy?”

Hiro nodded. “Yes I am, sir!”

The vampire put his palm to his face once more. The others noted that there were still five more mystery weapons.

“He may not look like much, but when he hooks up with his buddies…”

The second covered sheet started to whir and spin around in place like a tornado until it finally flew off, revealing an egg-shaped bot hovering in the center of four runed mag-lev discs, tendrils of magic keeping its parts together.

“Mercuria, the fastest battle bot ever made!”

The battle bot roared and revved up its wheels, rocketing off of the table and to the track.

“She’ll travel dozens of miles and back in seconds, the perfect scout!”

Mercuria zoomed past the starting line, a yellow blur on four magnetic wheels, traveling the entire length of the large track in seconds before coming to a complete stop in an instant.

“She’ll be right on straggler’s tails to run them down or cut them up with her razor-sharp discs!”

From a box on the side flipped open, bots on wheels zoomed out, propelled by rockets and powerful engines, scrambling every which way, a giant swarm of targets all over the lab floor. Mercuria dashed off and caught every single one of them, slicing them to bits with her discs as she ran them over, or launching her wheels at the larger targets, the shields homing and slicing before rocketing back to her main body.

“She even comes equipped with protection protocols to defend, deflect, and dispel!”

The gladiator drove off again and stopped in front of a huge bevy of machine guns, flamethrowers, and spell launchers. She raised her wheels up, enchanted shields growing from the edges as the bullets, the hexes, the spells, and the fire harmlessly bounced off, fizzled into nothing, or reflected right back at the weapon. Mercuria casually maneuvered herself and her wheels, tendrils moving as if she were dancing, the gun exploding and melting all around her.

“She’s also well-equipped for escorting personnel!”

The gladiator zoomed up to two dummies on carts, all three bots standing before an ominously glowing square of magic. Dummy One walked forward into the light, and immediately disintegrated. Mercuria started glowing, a massive bubble forming and encasing her and Dummy Two, and they drove their way through the death field completely unharmed.

Mercuria zoomed back to Hiro, gathering up serious speed before it launched from the floor, landed on the table, and stopped at a dime beside Megabot. The saboteur raised one of its middle section “arms,” the gladiator extended one of its shields to bump with it.

The vampire councilman removed his hand from his face and stared at the display. “Have you imbued these toys with souls?”

Hiro shook his head. “Nope! Magically enhanced artificial intelligences!” His cheerful tone dropped somewhat, “Courtesy of Robert Callaghan.”

“Are you certain endowing these weaponized _playthings_ with _thought_ was a good idea?!”

“Yes, sir! During our tests, it was consistently shown that having independent thought and analysis was much more effective in the battlefield than having them take orders from a controller, through the now-optional espernetic interface headbands. Though, I _will_ admit it’s gotten some pretty strange, but harmless side-effects.”

The vampire frowned even deeper. “Like what, exactly?”

“I’ll explain later, sir; for now, I still have to introduce you to the rest of the team!” Hiro said, gesturing to the remaining four mystery weapons.

The vampire grunted and crossed his arms. The other three watched and waited, the zombie rubbing her hands in excitement.


	5. New Weapons for a New War, 2 of 3

“This _toy_ is aiming its _weapon_ at me!”

“Sorry about that, sir;” Hiro replied before turning to the battle bot in question, “Bad kitty! Remember what we taught you? Don’t point your tail at people unless you intend to shoot them!”

The bright pink, cat-like bot casually flicked the tip of its turret-tail back and down to the table. Its cat-mask face with the bright green eyes turned to Hiro, the orbs widening as if she were surprised that he could ever think she was going to shoot the vampire councilman.

Megabot moved around as if it were wracked with a fit of giggles. Mercuria remained on standby, tendrils idly glowing.

The vampire councilman growled at the bot. The other three councilpersons helped themselves to a small chuckle and smiles at their compatriot’s expense.

Hiro nodded, reached over, and petted the battle bot’s head. “Good girl! Anyway, dear representatives of the Council, this is Chemical Kitten, the ultimate in battlefield support!”

The cat hopped off the table with feline grace, casually trotting up to a firing range full of hovering bullseyes, target dummies, moving targets, and a disc launcher.

“With her highly advanced, magically enhanced optic and spatial sensors, and her powerful launching mechanism, she has impeccable accuracy, reaction time, and speed!”

Chemical Kitten pressed a button on the floor. Immediately, the target range hummed to life, every single one of the targets glowing one by one with a marker, a giant timer beside her activating. Calm as can be, she slowly swept her face across the targets, her tail moving lightning fast and unleashing a constant stream of pink paintballs, all of them splattering on their targets split-seconds after the signal to shoot them went off.

She purred happily, her turret-tail smoking and swishing behind her as the screen declared 100% accuracy.

“She’s not just a paintball war’s worst nightmare, however, with thanks to a transdimensional pocket inside her chassis, giving her a wide variety of spells, potions, and hexes to fire off at a moment’s notice. Kitty is also equipped with spring loaded legs, an extremely flexible spine, and claws for latching onto most any surface, enabling her to do this:”

The cat trotted up to a simulated, miniaturized urban battlefield: dank alleys, tightly packed buildings, rooftops, corners, cars, signs, and tiny, magical Heralds and Security forces positioned all around. Chemical Kitten pressed another button, and the chaos began.

The cat sprang into action, latching herself onto walls and surfaces, sneaking in through tight spaces and out-of-the-way nooks, launching herself onto rooftops and high vantage points, raining down hexes, spells, and potions all the while. Mini-Heralds found themselves stuck in goop as Mini-Security forces moved in to banish them; an impassable killing ground was made safe by the sudden appearance of magical bubbles to use as cover; a Mini-Rider found its systems gummed up and useless, firing and attacking the pink potion-slinging cat that kept jumping around, scampering about, and ducking out of range, all while Mini-Security wailed at it.

“Yes, she’s an invaluable feline friend to have on the battlefield!”

Chemical Kitten hopped back up to the table. Megabot raised its “arms” again for a high five and the cat pressed a paw to it. Then, she sauntered over to Mercuria, and rubbed her side against her, purring all the while, her tail tip trailing on the egg-shaped core.

The gladiator quickly, deliberately raised three of its wheels to hide it from the one unamused and amused looks of the councilpersons and Hiro.

The zombie councilwoman laughed. “Cute couple!”

The vampire rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, just what we need in a war, a toy more concerned with flirting than—“ He let out a shriek and ducked just as a pink paintball rocketed past him, an inch away from his face.

Hiro blinked, and tried to turn the smirk into a horrified frown. “Bad kitty!”

Chemical Kitten made a low purring noise, and flicked its tail-tip back to Mercuria. Eventually, the cat settled on her “stomach,” weapon laid beside the gladiator. Megabot turned to his companions, a shield was menacingly jutted out, and he turned right back to the front.

The vampire growled. “Once this war is over, I am proposing a vote to have all of these playthings destroyed.”

The others didn’t comment. The technomancer just nodded, and moved to the fourth in the line-up of six. “And now to our master infiltrator, assassin, and all-around combat specialist:”

The cloth covering it turned into neat ribbons, sliced apart in a whirlwind of violence. Standing in the rain of shredded fabric was a skeletal looking bot, a mix of a fish and a lizard, the tips of its claws and its tail brimming with enchanted plasma.

“Agent Kajiki!”

It stood up on its back legs, and bowed. Everyone except the vampire clapped.

“Equipped with unparalleled mobility and flexibility, the ability to climb up and on most surfaces at any angle, spring-loaded servos, and a handy grappling hook for getting up to high places and around quickly, there are few places this intrepid ninja cannot break into.”

The assassin scurried off to a series of laser grids, motion detectors, and spotlights, a harrowing course where there was only but a sliver of space for safe travel and a split second to cross it. Kajiki bent, stretched, hopped, ducked, dove, snuck, and jumped over every single obstacle in fluid motions, his body almost like water as he bypassed every single line of defense.

The assassin reached up to an air vent, and discretely slashed it open, and snuck inside to the system. It was a labyrinth inside, many more Mini-Heralds patrolling the corridors and shafts, dozens of dead-ends, and only one exit to the Mini-Rider in a room at the very center.

“He is also equipped with an extremely powerful motion and magic detectors, optics capable of seeing in any condition, be it dark, cloudy, smoky, or filled with magical interference, clairvoyance, GPS, and even a obfuscation field, allowing him to maneuver through the most labyrinthine of buildings and courses completely, absolutely undetected…”

Agent Kajiki rapidly made his way through the maze, deftly avoiding patrols and dead-ends, zipping up and around shafts with the help of his grappling hook, sometimes disappearing from sight, sidelining his unwary foes with nary a sound. Eventually he came to the end of the maze, and quietly broke a hole through the vent and into the room.

“So he can sneak up to his enemies, wait till the time is right, and WHAM!”

The Mini-Rider hadn’t even realized they were being attacked. Agent Kajiki turned from unseen shadow to a storm of violence and death, hacking them to pieces in seconds. It turned to the camera inside the room, stood up on its hind legs again, and bowed.

Three of the councilpersons clapped and cheered heartily. “Woo! Go ninjas and their crazy knife skills!” Said the zombie.

The vampire offered a reluctant, half-hearted applause with a roll of his eyes.

The assassin stepped onto a waiting summoning circle and reappeared on the table beside his buddies. Megabot once more asked for a high-five, and the assassin walked over the edge, crawled under the table, and gave the saboteur an upside-down one.

Chemical Kitten purred happily in approval. Mercuria remained stoic, before the cat nudged her on the shield. The gladiator’s rear shields clanged together twice.

“And now for the big guy of the team!” Hiro declared, walking over to the sheet much higher and wider than the rest. He then ducked and encouraged the rest to do the same. The vampire was the only one who hadn’t crouched down.

“He’s big, he’s powerful, he’s got _hellfire_ breath, he is… FRED-ZILLLAAAAA!”

The mini-Kaiju roared, a gigantic gout of flame extending six feet across from his tiny maw, incinerating his sheet, and almost setting the vampire rep’s hair on fire. The councilman finally ducked and glared at the battle bot, but he was already too busy to notice, posing and flexing his muscular limbs and powerful tail.

Chemical Kitten’s tail wagged in approval, Kajiki scooted away from the mini-Kaiju, and Mercuria drove over and protected all three of them with her shields.

“Don’t let his size fool you,” Hiro said as he emerged from under the table, “Fredzilla is one powerful beast! He has super-jumping! He was super-strength! He has super-claws!”

The mini-Kaiju roared once more, and rocketed off the table, to a far-off collection of steel safes. He crawled under one container, and effortlessly hefted above his head, and set the several hundred pounds of steel to spinning, roaring with laughter all the while. He tossed it on top of another safe, and then those two to another, and then those three to a fourth, till he was under and spinning around all of them stacked together.

The councilpersons, sans vampire, clapped.

Then, Fredzilla threw the whole stack above his head, dropped his arms, and disappeared from sight as he broke through the bottom of a safe. The floor cracked from the sheer stress, the other three safes falling down with thunderous crashes that left more craters on the ground.

The vampire councilman chuckled. The others, including the robots cringed, but Hiro just kept on smiling.

“It would seem your little toy isn’t as powerful or intelligent as you think it is, fledgling.”

Hiro held up his finger. “Wait for it, sir!”

A monstrous fist punched its way straight through the lid of the vault. Then, Fredzilla reached the rest of his arm out, blindly groped around for the keypad, before carefully inputting the code and popping the safe. The mini-Kaiju casually strode out with what appeared to be a grin on his face, and gave everyone two thumbs up.

The vampire returned to sulking. The rest cheered, Chemical Kitten firing a little fireworks show, Mercuria clanging her shields together again.

“He is also one of the most durable bots in the line-up! Watch, as he traverses… the HALLWAY OF **DOOM!”**

Fredzilla walked up to two walls, a variety of guns, flamethrowers, buzzsaws, pneumatic spikes, pits of acid, magical death fields, Mini-Heralds, mines, explosive devices, LEGO bricks and all sorts of other unpleasantness filling the space between the two red lines on each end.

“Hit it!”

Music started to play, [a rather well known tune from the 70’s.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_izvAbhExY)

_Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk/ I'm a woman's man, no time to talk_

The mini-Kaiju bobbed his head to the beat and casually strode into the chaos, getting shot, burned, stabbed, melted, fried, clawed, bitten, sliced, blown up, and LEGO bricks stuck to his feet. He never broke stride once, shrugging off the entire assault.

_Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother/ You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive_

When he finally came out the other end covered in huge scars and tears, bullet holes, black burns, residual magic energy, deformations to his body, and a LEGO brick for each foot, he turned around to his audience, and gave another double thumbs-up.

The vampire groaned, and offered another reluctant round of applause. The others cheered once more, and Fredzilla rejoined the others, completely unbothered by the extensive damage to his body, and the tendrils of smoke and energy still wafting from him.

The Kaiju reached over with the arm not dripping acid or other unpleasantness, and touched the tip of a claw with one of Megabot’s raised arms.

The vampire councilman groaned. “Yes, yes, these toys have so far proven themselves to be rather durable, versatile, and powerful playthings. I’m assuming the last of these is the one that is, as you mortals say, the ‘best for last’?”

Hiro beamed. “He’s the battle bot that’s gonna help the most in this war, sir!”


	6. New Weapons for a New War, 3 of 3

The tiny robot in red-and-purple armour looked up and waved.

“Hello! I am Minimax, your personal combat companion. If the representatives of our dear Council will let me, I shall scan you for signs of physical, emotional, and/or supernatural pain.”

The vampire councilman sighed heavily. “Go ahead… I just want this whole farce to be over with…”

“The miniature machine may scan me.” The witch councilwoman said with a nod.

“I will admit, I am curious to see if he can.” The demon councilman said, “You have my approval.”

“He’s a tiny version of your robot!” The zombie councilwoman cried, “That’s so cute! Scan away, honey!”

“Proceeding with scan!” The miniature version of Baymax moved his tiny head up and down, “Scan complete! It would appear that every councilperson except for the Vampire and Magician Representative are in excellent physical condition, good-to-excellent emotional state, and well-balanced equilibrium.”

Said councilman scowled as Minimax turned to face him.

“To sir, I would heavily advise stress management classes, relaxation, therapy, and avoidance of stimuli that cause negative emotions such as anger, violent impulses, and annoyance, especially for one capable of immortality much like sir.”

The vampire bared his fangs at the battle bot. “Is this _toy_ just made to save a trip to the doctor’s?!”

“Of course not, sir!” Hiro replied, “Though we can’t demonstrate his capabilities on Citizens and Security personnel right now, Minimax is equipped with a technomagically enhanced super-scanner, capable of accurately diagnosing most every ailment in Society and mortal history; and numerous medical and technomagical repair tools, able to treat most common battlefield injuries on the spot, and even repair his fellow battle bots! He can also fly.”

The mini-medic sprouted wings from his back and took off just like the original. “Flying makes me a better combat companion.” He said, as he hovered near Fredzilla.

The mini-Kaiju nodded, stretched out his arms and exposed his damaged sections. Numerous tools and mechanisms sprouted out of Minimax from panels and compartments, the mini-medic rapidly working on repairing his compatriot until Fredzilla looked like he hadn’t even taken his stroll through the Hallway of **Doom.**

The mini-Kaiju roared with laughter and flexed his now pristine, undamaged body once more. Megabot waved Minimax over and the two bumped “fists.”

“Batta latta la!”

“He also has extensive knowledge on battlefield tactics, able to scan most areas and situations, assess potential dangers, and offer advice accordingly. He’s also capable of defending himself, joining in the fight with martial arts, and taking quite the beating, though not up to Fredzilla’s level. I’d show you just how helpful he is in a fight, but I think that demo is best left to actual combat than a simulation.”

Minimax settled back onto his original spot beside Fredzilla, all six battle bots sitting in a row and facing the councilmembers.

Hiro smiled at his audience. “So, as you can see, representatives of our dear Council, our new battle bots are very well-equipped, and programmed for providing invaluable support to our forces in the war against the Heralds and their Riders.”

“Uh huh, very promising ‘weapons,’ I see that.” The vampire deadpanned, “What else have you developed?”

“You’re looking at them, sir.”

The vampire councilman blinked, and slowly nodded his head. “I see. You expect to arm Society Security and the Hunter’s Lodge, filled with highly skilled combatants who have been defending our Citizens, and exterminating pests for decades if not centuries, with **_children’s toys?!”_**

“Not children’s toys, sir,” A woman said as she walked into the room, and stepped up beside Hiro. “Battle bots.” She held out her hand, and smiled. “Abigail Callaghan, techhnomancer and lead of the ‘Society 6’ Battle Bot Initiative; it is a pleasure to finally meet you, representatives of our dear Council.”

The vampire councilman took her hand and reluctantly shook it with as much disdain and (figurative and literal) coldness as he could manage. “Oh, and aside from perpetuating these gigantic wastes of time and resources, you’re also late to your own demonstration?”

Chemical Kitten casually aimed her launcher at the back of the vampire councilman’s head. She flicked it back before he noticed.

Abigail was unfazed. “Sorry, sir. I was just recently Embraced and my Sire-and-father had some briefing and catching up to do.”

“Hmph!” The vampire took back his hand and wiped it on a pant leg, “You’ll have all of the time in the world when you’re out of a job, as with the rest of this facility!”

The technomancers were once more unaffected. The other councilpersons were polite, and offered a few compliments aside from the formal greetings.

“Time to end this folly!” The vampire councilman cried, “I vote no to these… these… children’s toys!”

The witch councilwoman chuckled. “Their strength surpasses their size. I vote yes to the Society 6.”

“Shouldn’t this be good for quite the lark?” The demon councilman smiled, “I vote yes to these toys of terror.”

“Ha!” The zombie councilwoman raised her arm up into the air and cheered, “Bring on the mini-mayhem, battle bot Beastie Bouncers!”

Hiro beamed. “Thank you, sirs and madams. Mass production begins immediately, and every Security and hunter in San Fransokyo will have their own bot before sunset tomorrow.”

Abigail grinned and walked over to the table full of tittering and cheering bots. “Thank you, sirs and madams! Hear that, guys? Time for some _real_ field tests! Hiro, get over here!” The trainer held out her fist.

“Already there!” The director said as he held out his own to the group.

One by one, the bots offered their limbs, shields, paws, claws, and fists to the growing circle, and all at once, they bumped them together.

“Batta latta la!”

* * *

“Alejo, scan!”

The Minimax flew up into the alley and hovered in the air. It did a quick sweep of the area, and returned to his owner. “Scans reveal other Citizens within the area, affiliation unknown. I advise caution: a cramped, dead-end alley is extremely effective for ambushes, particularly from the rooftops, the windows, the dumpster, and the one door on your left; there is only one clear plan of escape, behind you all, and it is easily blocked.”

“Good bot, Alejo,” Honey Lemon said, “Sentry mode.”

“Scanning.” The mini-medic started hovering in place and humming quietly.

“Damian, arm.” Kat ordered. Her Megabot rolled out from the inside of her coat, climbing out of her collar to rest fully assembled on her shoulder. Its runes started glowing.

“So, who’s going first?” Rita asked as she started transforming into her wolf form, “Me and Zeke are _itching_ for a fight.”

The Fredzilla beside the hunter nodded his head vigorously.

GoGo stretched out her freshly transformed claws, and stepped about on her paws. “I’ll do it. Sly, overwatch.”

From the inside of her sleeve, the Agent Kajiki prepared itself for combat.

The others stood by with claws and potions ready, eyes scanning the alley. Slowly, GoGo stepped into the darkness, her tail raised high up behind her.

“Screamer near GoGo!”

The door exploded into splinters. The wheeled Rider dashed towards the werewolf, their shields already spinning and ready to slice.

GoGo spun over to face him, but before she could pounce on him, Sly rocketed right out of her sleeve, shot his grappling hook into the Heralds’ helmet, and zipped back right in front of their visor. The werewolf dove out of the way as the Rider missed by a good two feet.

The Screamer slowed down for a second, surprised that there was suddenly a fish-lizard right in front of their face. Then the fish-lizard sprouted plasma claws, and the screaming began. Disoriented and desperately scratching at their face, the Rider crashed right into a wall and fell onto their back.

“GET IT OFF ME! _GET IT OFF ME!”_

The Agent Kajiki calmly slashed their visor open and slipped inside of their helmet, and went to work.

The hunters stared at the nightmarish display, the Rider’s screams piercing the air. Damian hopped off his owner’s shoulder, rolled up to the thrashing Herald, and blasted it with an EMP. They just kept on flailing and crying as their armour sparked and dimmed.

“Screamer good to go!”

Rita grinned like a maniac and Kat raised an interested eyebrow as they descended on the Screamer and banished them with ease. Honey turned her attention to the rest of the alley, and struggled to decide if she should smile or open her mouth in horror. GoGo just gave her bot an amused smirk as it quickly returned to her sleeve.

“Ogre above GoGo!”

The hunters looked up just as the Rider dropped right down from the rooftops. They roared as they fell, a huge gout of enchanted flames erupting from their chest.

GoGo dove out of the way and got ready to pounce on them as soon as they landed. Zeke just dashed straight into the pillar of flame, and rocketed straight up to his opponent.

The mini-Kaiju slammed into his opponent’s chest, the Ogre flailed in mid-air. The Herald continued to spit their flames, but the Fredzilla was unfazed, already tearing at his opponent and roaring his own hellfire right into their face.

Honey was about to throw a disabling potion at them when they landed, but Damian rolled up to the grunting and clawing Ogre, and blasted it with another EMP.

The Rider's suit whined and jerked, the mechanisms inside jammed and stuck, the runes flickered and dimmed. Sly zipped right back into action as soon as the enchanted flames were reduced to mere spluttering, jumping inside the Herald through the mouth on their flamethrower.

“Ogre still armed!”

Zeke climbed up his stunned opponent and went to work slashing the hood open. Damian looked back at the amused hunters, and flipped his smiley face to the red devil grin.

“To the death.” Kat said, and the Megabot rolled in through the mouth like the Kajiki.

The Ogre’s runes and suit systems reactivated, but by then, it was far too late. In a flurry of slashes and the sounds of rapid, efficient deconstruction, the Rider was soon rendered completely, absolutely defenseless, their suit frame, weapons, and internal mechanisms turned into enchanted scrap and spare parts. Zeke flipped open the shredded hood, grabbed the mage by the neck, and pulled them right out of their armour and onto the ground.

“Ogre good to go!”

GoGo smiled. “Good robots.”

* * *

“Gotta admit, Hiro: even the ones that aren’t completely surprised by the bots don’t put up as much of a fight anymore.”

“The Society 6 are amazing, is what they are!” Honey Lemon said as she brought out a large cake to the table. “You and the people at the Society Lab did great work!”

Hiro basked in the praise. “Happy to hear it from you guys! I mean, pretty much everyone from the Lodge and Security are saying it, too, but there’s just something special when it’s you two.”

“And chocolate cake,” GoGo added, licking her lips as Honey pulled out the knife.

“That too!” Hiro grinned in excitement as the witch started to cut him a slice. “Oh, man, I’ve already got so many ideas for upgrades!”

“You do that, Hiro;” Honey Lemon smiled as she served him his slice, “Just don’t run us hunters out of a job, okay? There’s this pair of shoes I’ve been eyeing at the Bazaar, and if you keep me from getting them, I will _end_ you.”

Hiro chuckled. “Don’t worry, Honey, I won’t.”

“You really better not!” The witch sang as she cut up another slice.

The technomancer discretely looked over to GoGo. “She’s joking, right?” He mouthed.

The werewolf slowly shook her head.

Hiro picked up his fork, and started eating his cake very, very carefully. Then, his Society phone beeped. A new message, from an unknown, untraceable number:

_I will be at the Lucky Cat Café at 9AM tomorrow. Be there, or I will murder you._


	7. Schrodinger's Goober

“Hiro! Your girlfriend’s here!”

“She’s not my girlfriend, Aunt Cass!”

“Fine! Your friend who just _happens_ to be a girl is here!”

Hiro shook his head as he came down the stairs. At the same table near the door as last time, Naught sat, another tray full of sweets and sugary drinks in front of her. Her was phone set on the table, holographic display ready. The Herald was wearing a blue sweatshirt this time. It read:

_Think very carefully before you ask me to look at your “little computer problem.”_

Naught smiled, bit into her doughnut, and turned the screen over to Hiro as he walked over.

>You came to my summons. You really are smarter than you look, Schrodinger.

The Society technomancer blinked. “Schrodinger?” He asked as he climbed into the seat opposite Naught.

>An interesting companion to talk shop and verbally spar with, or just an annoying jerk, state determined only when he opens his mouth to speak.

Hiro nodded. “So, does this mean we’re on nickname terms now?”

>No. I would like for you to keep calling me “Naught.”

>And by that, I mean that if you so much as try to make a nickname for me, I will murder you.

Hiro chuckled. “You say that word a lot. It makes me wonder if you’re ever going to do it.”

Naught glared at him.

>I will. But I’m not a sloppy killer, Schrodinger; removing one problem for a bevy of others is not my style. I rather enjoy being a free citizen in the mortal realm, thank you very much.

“And you-know-who just lets you run around and meet with your archrival in a café like this?”

>Don’t tell me you don’t know we’re both being watched closely, Schrodinger?

Hiro looked around, scanning the other customers at the Lucky Cat. It did seem to get awfully busy before nine all of a sudden.

He turned back around to face Naught. “I’m assuming you called me here for a reason? Other than letting me know about my new pet name, that is.”

She sighed.

>Yes. I need a break from the Heralds. Much as I hate to admit it, I can’t find scintillating conversation that isn’t peppered with “For the New World Order!” every other sentence, or interrupted by a desperate need for me to fix someone’s technomagic problem.

>Besides, Schrodinger, you’re interesting.

>Also, I swear your aunt is lacing these treats with something, and I can’t get enough of it.

Hiro nodded. “It’s why we stay in business. Speaking of which!” He smirked, “Your team seems to have lost their win streak!”

Naught grunted.

>We have. But don’t get cocky, Schrodinger; you only have the element of surprise once.

“Must have been pretty humiliating to have lost to our new tech like that, huh?”

>Yes, I will give you that much. However, know that we are hard at work making our own batch of unpleasant surprises for you and your Society.

“Ha! I’d love to see what you guys cook up.” Hiro leaned in closer, and whispered, “You know, the new lab they gave me is pretty sweet; lots of space, lots of equipment, huge warehouse-sized playground where I can just invent all I want, and all I have to do is ask for more stuff and they give it to me. Bet you wish you had that, don’t you?”

>I don’t, actually.

The Society techno blinked. “What, they give you a lab better than mine?

Naught chuckled.

>We don’t need your facilities, Schrodinger. The Heralds have been doing just fine without the help of the Council nor people like Krei, if you haven’t noticed. You, on the other hand, have only just begun to catch up.

Hiro nodded, and pulled back. “You gotta admit though, we’re making pretty good time.”

>That you are. I’d rather be on the team that wins in the end, though, thanks.

“What, and just spend the rest of this war hanging out with your archrival once a week?”

>You say that as if your Society’s actually going to last that long.

“Okay, supposing you _do_ win: do you really want a world where the people on your team rule?”

>It’ll solve itself eventually. You yourself should now there is such a thing as memory/magic stripping, if they don’t manage to off themselves first.

Hiro nodded. “That bad, huh?”

Naught sighed once more.

>I work with psychopaths, hormonally ravaged teenagers, lunatics with a bone to pick, anti-social savants, and certified geniuses completely, loudly, -aggressively- assured of their absolute indispensability to the cause. Almost none of whom have any people skills or real world knowledge of any sort.

>They’re a lovely bunch.

“Why don’t you quit, then? I’d go crazy if the only person I could hang out with, let alone actually like, was in a completely different laboratory, and on the opposite team, too.”

>There are more important things than workplace relationships, Schrodinger.

“Riiiight…” Hiro slowly nodded his head, “Hey, just asking: do _you_ have a vending machine that dispenses _anything?_ We do.”

Naught was unfazed.

>Your attempts to make me defect by appealing to simple material pleasures, and fleeting feelings for temporary workers are more blindly optimistic than effective, Schrodinger.

“Hey, at least I’m trying, unlike a certain someone!”

The Herald rolled her eyes.

>Why are you doing this? You realize it’s easier to beat us by force and technomagical advancement than using your oh so persuasive arguments against me, right?

Hiro shook his head. “I’m not doing this to beat your team, Naught. It’s a personal thing.”

>Would you mind explaining, or shall I chalk this up to another illogic of the Schrodinger’s Goober?

Hiro paused, and took a deep breath. “Two years ago, my brother Tadashi saw someone with a big brain that was using it for all the wrong reasons, and showed them how to actually do something good with it. Now, I’m doing the same.”

Naught frowned.

>”Right” and “wrong” is subjective, Schrodinger.

“So is what you’re fighting for ‘right’ to you, or do you just believe it because everyone around you is saying it?”

Naught glowered at her rival, and angrily bit into a bear claw.

>Even if there wasn’t a team waiting to make me mysteriously disappear if I tried, I don’t belong with your world, Hiro.

>You might think I’m some squeaky clean, innocent girl just working for the wrong team, and I will say: you don’t know me, and how far from a simple “misguided youth” I am.

Hiro nodded once. “And you think you’re beyond changing, and you’re even more wrong.”

Naught shot icy daggers at her rival.

“It’s never too late, Naught. Look at Callaghan.”

>Callaghan didn’t have a choice.

“You do.”

There was a long, cold silence, filled only with the sounds of Naught’s angry munching.

“We both know we’re not working for saints. Our side is ugly. But your side?” Hiro shook his head, “They’re _uglier.”_

>You sound so sure of yourself.

“Can’t say the same to you.”

Naught paused.

>They’re all I have, Hiro.

“Are they? Or is that just what you think?”

She seethed, her eyes narrowing.

>It’s easy for you to say when you have your family, friends, and SFIT. I had none of those and never will.

“Stop joking, Naught. This is serious.”

>What makes you think I’m joking, Schrodinger?

Hiro sighed, and shook his head. “And here I thought you were smarter than this…”

They glared at each other.

“Hey, if you two lovebirds are going to have a full-blown fight in my café, break it up right now!” Cass cried from the counter, “Or at least take it upstairs!”

They broke off. Naught turned her attention to what little remained of her food, and took a long sip of her milkshake.

Hiro smirked. “At the very least, you’ve got good taste, eating my Aunt Cass’s food.”

The Herald glared at him, though her lips were turned up in a smile.

>Sue me. They’re -delicious.-

“Better than anything you’ve ever had ‘delicious’?”

Naught chuckled.

>Nope! Good as these are, they’ll never match up to the best.

Hiro raised an interested eyebrow. “Really, now?”

>You’ve never really had food until you’ve had one made with both love, -and- magic, Schrodinger…

From the back of the counter, Cass watched the two chat, and smiled.


End file.
